I'm looking to do some rotoscoping, and I'd really like to do it the old-fashioned way, actually tracing over the frames with pencil on paper. The only way I can think of to do that is to project the images from the computer onto a surface, but multimedia projectors are way out of my price range right now. I could also print out each individual frame and trace over them on a light table, but that seems awfully ineffecient. I have a Wacom tablet, but I just haven't been too happy with the results. So, does anyone have ANY suggestions for projecting images from the computer onto a surface that won't cost me an arm and a leg? Anything...... anything at all would be useful. Thanks.
I've had to rotoscope a sequence as a project for one of my classes. I think printing out the frames is your best bet. With the amount of tracing you have to do with a rotoscope, you don't want anything more complicated then grabbing a sheet of paper, putting it on your light table (hopefully in a comfortable place) tracing it, and moving onto the next one. If you really want to trace it off your computer screen, perhaps setting your monitor so that the screen is facing up and acting like a light table would work, but that could be uncomfortable to draw on.
I had a vision of someone gluing an acme pegbar on a 17" flat Phillips monitor. Then the person looked at a mirror, and it was me! Yikes!
You guys are giving me ideas. Stop that.
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Printing the frames sound good, if it's not expensive. In this case I'd recommend you did some image tweeking before printing. For example, adjusting the contrast, or even applying good old Find Edges. It would make the final (black and white!) image much clearer through the paper.
danielpoeira.org
Hey slug.
I'mnot sure this will help at all since i don't know what type od setup you have, but..
You could try this
Make a quicktime of the sequence you want to rotoscope, import that in flash
On a top layer, just , frame by frame, redraw your stuff.. than you can get rid of the quicktime and , tadada.. there you go!
Flash , or any othe rtwo d animation package such as boom toon, mirage , or the tab should be abe to import some sort of quicktime file, or avi , or something..
Just a thought
P.
What I've done in the past at school was capture a sequence of video in premiere, export it out as a tiff sequence, then print out every other frame on a printer and put those on the light table to draw over. Works just fine.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I actually have tried tracing over the computer screen, but it just isn't bright enough. It looks like printing out the frames is my best option right now. I'm just afraid I'll go broke buying ink cartridges. I'll just have to see what happens. Sigh... it just doesn't pay to do things by hand anymore, does it? Still open to any other suggestions.
Slug, can't you export the frames and take them to a print shop to get printed on a Xerox machine? The problem would be you would have to punch the holes exactly in the right place. In this case you could use one of those papers that already come with holes in it, that should work. And much cheaper than printing everything out of your own printer...
danielpoeira.org
You can make a sort of dark chamber using a lens from a slide projector in front of the monitor (Covering it, course) and using a mirror to project OVER the paper.
before printing make sure to apply a filter like 'find edges" or 'trace contour' or 'photo copy'
this will save you lots of ink and also make the rotoscoping much easier.
Peter Wassink - Digital 2D Animator
Last time I was in a bit of a hurry. Let me explain about the "dark chamber" :D take a cardboard box, open it, turn it on a side and place it right in front of your monitor, as if you were going to pack it frontfirst. :eek: It would be best if there's no leak of light.Then, on the bottom of the box, which is now pointing forward, make a hole for the lens (from a slide projector). This will project some of what's on your screen, depending on the type of lens. The image will come out inverted, so using a mirror in front of the lens will help you get it right and also direct the projection in the direction you want. Is the same principle as for epidiascopes(that project opaque images). The beam will not be very strong, so you may need to dim or turn off the ligts. This is just so that you get the basic idea, and you will have to experiment a bit with the distance from lens to monitor screen (The lens I used had a very short focal distance, but I assume you don't have an old russian slide projector around)
(Tried to include a diagram, but I just could not figure out how to use the "insert image" button.)
Hope that helps, here we're used to those odd solutions. :D